Students in public schools benefit
from improved technology introduced by
Philippines
STRENGTHENING PUBLIC SERVICE
DELIVERY IN EDUCATION
“What you’re seeing now is the fastest
procurement of IT packages in a government
agency. UNDP came to us as an answer
to our prayer.”
—former secretary of the department
of education brother armin a. luistro, fsc
IN SHORT
The Philippines is striving to deliver improved public services,
having shown significant results but also some challenges
in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). At a middle level in income and human development,
with significant fiscal space, and where official development
assistance now represents a small fraction of total financial
flows, the country is committed to making more effective use
the Government with UNDP support.
of its internal resources to fulfil its development goals.
In 2016, under a $60 million government financing agree-
ment, UNDP began assisting the Department of Education in
delivering one of the Government’s most critical programmes,
the Kinder to Grade 12 Basic Education Programme. Through
this agreement, UNDP provides an assistance package that
includes technical support for public financial management
reform, capacity development, citizens’ engagement in moni-
toring service delivery and procurement services.
T H E A D D E D VA L U E O F U N D P
UNDP is well positioned to support a country where domestic
resources for development have soared exponentially in recent
years, but capacities to deliver services have not kept up, re-
sulting in delays in project implementation and expenditure
of allocated budget.
Under a financing agreement with the Department of
3
Education, where the bulk of funding is from the Government, T H E N AT I O N A L B U D G E T
UNDP offers global expertise, high standards of transparency HAS DOUBLED IN SIX YE ARS
and accountability, and expert programme management sup- (b illion s of p e so s)
port to accelerate service delivery. The support is time-bound, 3,002
as UNDP will exit once the Department of Education’s 2,265
2,606
policies and programmes are refined, and its service delivery 1,816 2,006
1,541 1,645
capacities are sufficiently strengthened.

K EY AC T I V IT IES 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

A N D ACH IEV E MEN TS
Recent fiscal reforms helped double budgetary resources in the
E D U C AT I O N A B S O R B S T H E L A R G E S T
Philippines in six years. In 2016, the national budget topped
SHARE OF FUNDS
3 trillion pesos, over 37 percent of which was allocated to
(D epar t men t of Educ a t ion , b illion s of p e so s)
social service sectors. The Department of Education’s budget,
the highest among all government departments, continues to 461

grow, surpassing 460 billion pesos in 2016. Approved budget

Actual utilization 386
Given high ratios of children and youth—one-third of the
population is under age 15—the Philippines cannot afford to 307 308
fall short on education. While it attained the MDG target 279 273
251 261
on primary enrolment, only 64 percent of adults have some 238
223
207 219
secondary education, and the quality of education is still a 191
major challenge.
With these issues in mind, the Department of Education
has been pursuing a series of reforms, including under the 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
2013 Enhanced Basic Education Act, colloquially called the
Kinder to Grade 12 (K-12) Basic Education Programme. It
aims to establish and maintain a complete, adequate, integrated initially focused on expediting the procurement and delivery
system of education relevant to the needs of all people and the of ICT equipment and services for schools, while ensuring
country while also bridging the divide between education and quality and best value for money.
the requirements of today’s labour market. The impacts could UNDP procurement support services access a highly
be profound, particularly in terms of reducing inequities in competitive global market and globally recognized brands
access to schooling. Dropout rates will also fall. with after-sales support services, which can extend equipment
use beyond the current three-year asset replacement period of
the Department of Education. UNDP also provides expertise
expediting procurement
in the complicated logistics of delivering procured items to
and closing management gaps
approximately 5,000 points across the Philippine archipelago.
As part of expediting implementation of the K-12 Programme, Further, it uses the procurement process to provide hands-on
a government financing partnership with UNDP was agreed experience to government staff, backed by training on new
to help reduce remaining capacity gaps and ensure the timely skills, such as under the CIPS Level 2 Certificate in Procure-
delivery of quality development services. The partnership ment and Supply Operations.

4

IT FOR HIGH SCHOOLERS
To tackle the issue of high youth unemployment
and provide better jobs for Filipino workers, the
Government envisions strengthening the IT and
telecommunications sectors. This has led the De-
partment of Education to invest in building IT skills
among senior high school students
Partnering with UNDP, the Government plans
to deliver packages of computers and other IT
equipment to more than 5,000 public senior high
schools throughout the country. This includes
4,000 schools with no access to power, and
where the ICT packages will be bundled with solar
power systems.
So far, UNDP has awarded three out of four con-
tracts for providing IT packages, installation and
training to 184 public high schools, 889 special-
ized high schools and 209 division offices of the
Department of Education. The contracts were pro-
cured within three months—well below the time
involved in government procurement processes.
B A S I C FA C T S
T I M E F R A M E : May 2016 to December 2017
T O T A L P R O J E C T C O S T S : $60.6 million ($600,000 from UNDP)
G O V E R N M E N T F I N A N C I N G : $60 million (Department of Education)
P A R T N E R S : Department of Education
Alongside the provision of procurement and programme
management support services, UNDP is implementing a tech-
nical assistance package to help the Department of Education
improve its delivery of education services. First, a diagnostic
assessment will identify strengths, weaknesses, risks and
opportunities for reform in the Department’s public financial
management systems.
Second, a capacity development programme will boost
the professionalization of public financial management in the
Department, especially in the area of procurement. A parallel
capacity development programme for civil society organiza-
tions will enable them to engage in the Department’s public
financial management processes, from budget preparation to
budget accountability.
Third, as part of the Department’s efforts to boost trans-
parency, accountability and citizen participation, UNDP is
helping to devise a third-party monitoring system. Through
this, civil society organizations and community volunteers are
tapped to track the delivery of ICT packages, the preparedness
of schools prior to delivery and the satisfaction of users after
delivery. This monitoring system can potentially be extended
to cover all aspects of education service delivery.
UNDP is offering technical assistance in an inclusive
manner through the Governance Host Universities Bridging
Services (G-HUBS). G-HUBS bring together academic
institutions and civil society organizations as partners and
service providers for public financial management assess-
ments, capacity development and third-party monitoring.
A G-HUBS-based strategy ensures that reform efforts are
undertaken bottom-up rather than top-bottom.